Align supplements purchased from Amazon were likely counterfeits.

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On the second evening of Prime Day, Amazon’s annual sales bonanza, Anne Marie Bressler received an email from Amazon that had nothing to do with the latest deals. The message, sent from an automated email address Tuesday, informed her that the Align nutritional supplements she ordered two weeks earlier were probably counterfeit. “If you still have this product, we recommend that you stop using it immediately and dispose of the item,” the email reads, adding that she would be receiving a full refund. It’s not clear how many other customers may have purchased the fake supplements. Amazon confirmed that it sent out the email but declined to specify the number of customers impacted.

For years, Amazon has battled third-party sellers who list knockoffs of everything from iPhone charging cables to soccer jerseys on its site. Nutritional supplements are another popular target for fakes, as it’s a largely unregulated industry. The US Food and Drug Administration has been criticized—including by former staff—for declining to test dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness the same way it does pharmaceuticals. In this instance, the problems came together: An Amazon merchant sold dupes of genuine probiotics made by Align, a Procter & Gamble brand.

“We are aware that some counterfeit Align product was sold on Amazon via third parties,” Mollie Wheeler, a spokes­person for Procter & Gamble, said in an email. “Amazon has confirmed they have stopped third party sales of the Align products in question and Amazon is only selling Align product received directly from P&G manufacturing facilities.”

In a statement, an Amazon spokes­person highlighted several initiatives the company has devised to detect counterfeiters, like Brand Registry and Project Zero. Brands typically need to elect to participate in these programs, and the spokesperson declined to clarify whether Procter & Gamble or Align were already enrolled.

“We investigate every claim of potential counterfeit thoroughly, and often in partnership with brands, and in the rare instance where a bad actor gets through, we take swift action, including removing the item for sale, permanently banning bad actors, pursuing legal action, and working with law enforcement when appropriate,” the statement reads. “We have taken these actions against the bad actors in question and proactively notified and refunded customers.” Neither Amazon nor Procter & Gamble would say who first detected the fake pills.

Amazon also didn’t respond to a question about whether it would test the counterfeit probiotics, leaving Bressler and other customers to wonder if they may have ingested something dangerous. The FDA has found that supplements sometimes contain prescription pharmaceuticals like steroids or antidepressants, which can be harmful if a person takes them without being aware of it. CVS recently announced plans to independently test every nutritional supplement it carries in its stores. That Amazon isn’t doing the same might sound careless, but the reality is that the company has already taken far more action than it’s obligated to under the law.

Even if the counterfeit Align pills Amazon sold turned out to be harmful, Bressler and other buyers would likely have little legal recourse against the company. When consumers have tried to sue online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay for selling dangerous goods in the past, courts have ruled they aren’t responsible for products offered by third-party vendors—they serve merely as intermediaries between consumers and sellers.

In many of these cases, the companies have defended themselves using Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Passed in 1996, it shields them from nearly all liability for what sellers or users post on their sites. In one 2014 case, for example, a judge found that because of Section 230, eBay isn’t liable even when it sells items that have been recalled. “Marketplaces aren’t responsible for passing along recalls, even if they know the recalls have been issued, and even if they would have the capacity to share them,” says Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law who has written extensively about intermediary liability. (Items that have been recalled, however, are prohibited under eBay’s Terms of Service.)

Retailers, on the other hand, can be held directly responsible for selling things like questionable dietary supplements. Three years ago, the Department of Justice ordered GNC to pay a $2 million fine for selling products with harmful hidden ingredients, and the chain agreed to better police the goods on its shelves moving forward.

Amazon is both a retailer and a third-party marketplace. It buys some products directly from manufacturers and sells them at a markup, and it allows independent merchants to offer their goods directly to consumers, the latter of which accounts for 58 percent of gross merchandise sales on the platform. But the line between those two parts of its business are not always clear. Amazon exerts a significant amount of control over sellers, including dictating how their goods appear in search results. It also often warehouses and ships their products for them. And unlike on eBay, Etsy, or other online marketplaces, a single Amazon product listing can feature goods from dozens of independent sellers, making it difficult for consumers to understand from whom they’re purchasing a product. “Amazon has obviously kept pushing the needle further and further toward taking responsibility for marketplace goods,” says Goldman.

The US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this month that these kinds of differences do, in fact, make Amazon liable for harmful products sold by third-party sellers in some circumstances. The judges noted that because third-party vendors can only communicate with consumers directly through Amazon, they can “conceal themselves from the customer, leaving customers injured by defective products with no direct recourse." The case involved a woman who purchased a dog collar from a third-party vendor on Amazon in 2014. Several weeks later, while she was walking her dog, it snapped, leaving the woman permanently blind in one eye. Goldman notes that the ruling is based on Pennsylvania law and doesn’t yet set a precedent for the rest of the country. Amazon is also asking the court to review it again.

Making Amazon legally liable for everything on its site wouldn’t be a silver bullet. The immunity granted under Section 230 is what, in part, made it possible for online marketplaces to thrive in the first place. If platforms became totally liable, that would make it incredibly difficult for, say, Etsy to allow independent artists to sell their work on its site. Amazon has banned some products it has deemed to be dangerous, like hoverboards, but there are an endless number of other categories in which seemingly benign products may pose risks.

And in situations where Amazon can't be held legally responsible, it can be almost impossible to track down the entities who are. The third-party vendor who sold the knockoff Align pills, or the company that manufactured them, may very likely be difficult to find, especially if they’re overseas. In the dog collar case, The Furry Gang, the third-party vendor that sold the defective collar completely disappeared.

The US government is taking more notice of the growing problem of counterfeits and how online shopping in many ways has allowed knockoffs to flourish. On Thursday, lawmakers in the House of Representatives held a hearing on counterfeits, where people from a variety of industries spoke about the threat to their businesses. “As one of the largest and most influential ecommerce companies in the world, Amazon has an important role to play in ensuring that counterfeit goods stay out of consumers’ hands,” said Robert C. Barchiesi of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition in written testimony. “And we look forward to their continued cooperation toward that end.”

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124 Reader Comments

Amazon can't possibly be taking counterfeit items seriously when "counterfeit" is not on the list of reasons to return an item on the phone app. They don't even make it easy to specify "other" with words!

This happened to me as well. I have Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis and Align does wonders to regulate my stomach. In my case, it took Amazon over a month to let me know about the counterfeit purchase. During this month, I figured my other medicines had stopped working - the impact of the counterfeit align was that noticeable. Amazon finally reached out at 3:30 a.m. with a rather obtuse e-mail informing me I was getting a refund.

This happened to me as well. I have Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis and Align does wonders to regulate my stomach. In my case, it took Amazon over a month to let me know about the counterfeit purchase. During this month, I figured my other medicines had stopped working - the impact of the counterfeit align was that noticeable. Amazon finally reached out at 3:30 a.m. with a rather obtuse e-mail informing me I was getting a refund.

So people may have bought counterfeit worthless sugar pills instead of genuine worthless sugar pills.

Oh no!

As detailed in https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02 ... recommend/ , the genuine ones are usually ineffective (and potentially unsafe) but there are situations where there is evidence that certain supplements are beneficial - some medical conditions, pregnancy, etc. Those people need to be able to trust that what they're taking is what it claims to be.

I have friends that use large numbers of supplements. They are totally convinced they all work. A coup,e buy from some companies on the internet, because they claim that those “RAW’ products are better than the. Amp brands. Of course, neither do anything useful. But it’s very possible that the sites they buy from, at high prices (turmeric is a very popular item) are selling total crap, and they wouldn’t know.

I remember that a few years ago, Consumer reports, which has supplements tested buy a lab that does U.S.P testing. Reported that among other problems, one brand of melatonin had a substance similar to Ambian in it. Since melatonin has been shown to not work, those who took these might have had effects from the other compound.

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

I've gotten counterfeit Sandisk micro-SD cards, a counterfeit copy of Windows 10 (which, thankfully, when I reported it to Microsoft, they sent me a legit key), and countless DVDs over the years. Some of these things were even sold by Amazon.

The FDA doesn't conduct testing of any drug. Instead the manufacturer is required to conduct their own testing and present the results to the FDA for approval. Most people should start taking Vitamin C before they reach out to the exotic supplements on Amazon.

The problem is that at the warehouse Amazon aggregates things that are fulfilled by amazon. So if I buy something from Amazon.com LLC, Amazon actually decides if that item was supplied by them or by a third party seller. They’re not a neutral marketplace in this instance.

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

By law, the FDA can’t do this unless there is a specific situation where danger is suspected. Decades ago, supplement manufacturers forced the government into a corner, where they’re not allowed to test products that are derived from “naturally” occurring substances, the way they test drugs, and approve, drugs.

This is a serious problem. And I put the blame on Amazon. What if those supplements had some sort of poison in them? We're not that far divorced from things like the Tylenol poisoning in the 80s. Only now, they can be shipped directly to your door to kill you.

From an outsider's perspective, it seems to me that Amazon has more or less been sitting on their hands about this. They make so much money from their third party sellers that they're unwilling to do some of the basic things that need to be done to protect consumers and businesses they work with from counterfeits and ne'er-do-wells.

This is the tip of the iceberg. The outright theft of copyrighted literature to be printed by Amazon's own Printing services and then sold on Amazon is something that is well documented, as is the fact that Amazon doesn't seem to do even basic checks to prevent it.

I usually try not to the ascribe to the knee-jerk reaction that businesses are evil and out to screw the consumer, but Amazon definitely does not do due diligence with some of the market practices that they employ. And in this case, it has to be a choice in favor of income over consumer safety.

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

By law, the FDA can’t do this unless there is a specific situation where danger is suspected. Decades ago, supplement manufacturers forced the government into a corner, where they’re not allowed to test products that are derived from “naturally” occurring substances, the way they test drugs, and approve, drugs.

The whole gorram industry is a situtaion where danger is suspected. We have plenty of examples of shady operators selling dangerous things as "supplements" precisely because the industry is unregulated. It would be bad enough if supplements only had to prove they're safe, but we don't even have that.

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

I think that's only half the problem. The other half is that you have things like commingling third-party seller products in with Amazon's regular stock in warehouses. So Amazon now doesn't know where all the products they're sending came from. Which means that along with the growth of third-party seller counterfeits, now not even sold and shipped by Amazon products are safe anymore. It's expedient for them, but it harms the consumer.

Amazon is going to have to tackle this sooner rather than later. Then again, if Amazon doesn't, maybe other retail websites will get some traction so they can have some serious competition. I think they get away with all this stuff because they're the biggest hog in town, and people are still going to shop with them even with all their bad practices.

The FDA doesn't conduct testing of any drug. Instead the manufacturer is required to conduct their own testing and present the results to the FDA for approval. Most people should start taking Vitamin C before they reach out to the exotic supplements on Amazon.

Vegans and vegetarians need B12, taking vitamin c will not change that

I have friends that use large numbers of supplements. They are totally convinced they all work. A coup,e buy from some companies on the internet, because they claim that those “RAW’ products are better than the. Amp brands. Of course, neither do anything useful. But it’s very possible that the sites they buy from, at high prices (turmeric is a very popular item) are selling total crap, and they wouldn’t know.

I remember that a few years ago, Consumer reports, which has supplements tested buy a lab that does U.S.P testing. Reported that among other problems, one brand of melatonin had a substance similar to Ambian in it. Since melatonin has been shown to not work, those who took these might have had effects from the other compound.

When the "herbal" boner products were analyzed, they all worked because they all contained sildenafil, the active ingredient of Viagra. No plant biochemical pathway can lead to Viagra, but on the positive side, the fake fakes worked better than the genuine fakes. Of course the risks of blindness hearing loss and heart attacks were probably higher for the fake fakes than the genuine ones. But real side effects are usually worse than placebo side effects.

The FDA doesn't conduct testing of any drug. Instead the manufacturer is required to conduct their own testing and present the results to the FDA for approval. Most people should start taking Vitamin C before they reach out to the exotic supplements on Amazon.

Vegans and vegetarians need B12, taking vitamin c will not change that

nevermind that vitamin C deficiency is hard to achieve in the modern Western world, and taking more than your body needs means you just (literally) piss away the excess.

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

By law, the FDA can’t do this unless there is a specific situation where danger is suspected. Decades ago, supplement manufacturers forced the government into a corner, where they’re not allowed to test products that are derived from “naturally” occurring substances, the way they test drugs, and approve, drugs.

Exactly, through two bought and paid for Senators (an oxymoron) Harkin and Hatch, the Supplements industry got largely taken out of the FDA's jurisdiction. So, the lack of consumer protection in the entire Supplements world was actively sought, and paid for by the Supplements industry.

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

By law, the FDA can’t do this unless there is a specific situation where danger is suspected. Decades ago, supplement manufacturers forced the government into a corner, where they’re not allowed to test products that are derived from “naturally” occurring substances, the way they test drugs, and approve, drugs.

Exactly, through two bought and paid for Senators (an oxymoron) Harkin and Hatch, the Supplements industry got largely taken out of the FDA's jurisdiction. So, the lack of consumer protection in the entire Supplements world was actively sought, and paid for by the Supplements industry.

The irony is that here in the US even the genuine supplements from the manufacturer (not specifically Align but any of them) often don't have the labeled ingredient in them or can have harmful stuff in them. The FDA, by law, is reactive in this situation, not proactive, thanks to Orrin Hatch (and the Congress that passed DSHEA in 1994 (and to Clinton that signed it).

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

I think that's only half the problem. The other half is that you have things like commingling third-party seller products in with Amazon's regular stock in warehouses. So Amazon now doesn't know where all the products they're sending came from. Which means that along with the growth of third-party seller counterfeits, now not even sold and shipped by Amazon products are safe anymore. It's expedient for them, but it harms the consumer.

Amazon is going to have to tackle this sooner rather than later. Then again, if Amazon doesn't, maybe other retail websites will get some traction so they can have some serious competition. I think they get away with all this stuff because they're the biggest hog in town, and people are still going to shop with them even with all their bad practices.

As long as amazon is raking in the cash they have no incentive to change their business model c

Amazon makes it impossible to determine if a seller is an authorized retailer for a given product. It also does not require sellers to publicly post the company registration details; location of domicile, beneficial owners, etc. Finally, I doubt Amazon even does identity verification of the sellers, an action which costs less than $1.25 per verification. Amazon is fully supportive of counterfeiters and fraudsters.

The FDA doesn't conduct testing of any drug. Instead the manufacturer is required to conduct their own testing and present the results to the FDA for approval. Most people should start taking Vitamin C before they reach out to the exotic supplements on Amazon.

Vegans and vegetarians need B12, taking vitamin c will not change that

nevermind that vitamin C deficiency is hard to achieve in the modern Western world, and taking more than your body needs means you just (literally) piss away the excess.

The whole vitamin C supplement was started by Linus Pauling. He was a gifted biochemist; but his claim to improved health from vitamin C supplements has been discredited for decades. But the meme remains.

Counterfeit supplements can be incredibly dangerous. For things like this claiming social Darwinism in one form or another is also dangerous.

Amazon, CVS, GNC, etc should not have to test and regulate this. The FDA should be doing basic safety testing and assigning the manufacturer a number for each product that is tested and manufactured in a safe way.The seller should only have to confirm the seller is a designated reseller for the manufacturer.

They should be able to sell people their BS pills without worrying they might kill someone due to contaminated or counterfeit BS pills, and the FDA should actually be doing what most people believe it's already doing!Wish Amazon would put it's lobbying money behind getting the FDA to do it's job.

By law, the FDA can’t do this unless there is a specific situation where danger is suspected. Decades ago, supplement manufacturers forced the government into a corner, where they’re not allowed to test products that are derived from “naturally” occurring substances, the way they test drugs, and approve, drugs.

My only nitpick on this description is the word “government.” The “government” could do something about this if it wanted to, supplement manufacturers can’t force the federal government to do anything. There is no reason the federal government couldn’t rigorously regulate health supplements.

They could, however, pay lobby Congress to force FDA regulators not to regulate them like the FDA regulates drugs. And lo, Congress forced the FDA to do what the supplement makers wanted.

Align (tm) is one of a very few supplements with pretty good evidence of efficacy. See Frech, Khannan, Marianan Frech et al. Just because 99.99 percent of supplements are a waste of money doesn't mean they all are. YMMV

So people may have bought counterfeit worthless sugar pills instead of genuine worthless sugar pills.

Oh no!

Probiotics are actually beneficial for some people, if you can find probiotics that are actually worth a damn. One of the problems with the unregulated supplement market is that it’s nearly impossible to find probiotics that are actually viable and useful.

Dismissing these as “genuine worthless sugar pills” is missing the mark. They’re not the greatest probiotics, but given the lack of consumer testing on the broader market, they’re one of only like two options out there that have been through actual clinical testing to show they are more than just placebo pills.

So people may have bought counterfeit worthless sugar pills instead of genuine worthless sugar pills.

Oh no!

Probiotics are actually beneficial for some people, if you can find probiotics that are actually worth a damn. One of the problems with the unregulated supplement market is that it’s nearly impossible to find probiotics that are actually viable and useful.

Dismissing these as “genuine worthless sugar pills” is missing the mark. They’re not the greatest probiotics, but given the lack of consumer testing on the broader market, they’re one of only like two options out there that have been through actual clinical testing to show they are more than just placebo pills.

The FDA doesn't conduct testing of any drug. Instead the manufacturer is required to conduct their own testing and present the results to the FDA for approval. Most people should start taking Vitamin C before they reach out to the exotic supplements on Amazon.

Vegans and vegetarians need B12, taking vitamin c will not change that

nevermind that vitamin C deficiency is hard to achieve in the modern Western world, and taking more than your body needs means you just (literally) piss away the excess.

And, IIRC, at amazing speed. Within 1 hour I recall 99% of a 1 gram dose of Vitamin C being in the bladder. Unless it were for treatment of a bladder infection or other bladder ailment, such pharmacokinetics would be death for any would be drug. Even the bladder would probably not see that much exposure, as such rapid excretions tend to produce a lot of water, and the bladder then tends to get drained pretty quickly for some unknown reason.

I have friends that use large numbers of supplements. They are totally convinced they all work. A coup,e buy from some companies on the internet, because they claim that those “RAW’ products are better than the. Amp brands. Of course, neither do anything useful. But it’s very possible that the sites they buy from, at high prices (turmeric is a very popular item) are selling total crap, and they wouldn’t know.

I remember that a few years ago, Consumer reports, which has supplements tested buy a lab that does U.S.P testing. Reported that among other problems, one brand of melatonin had a substance similar to Ambian in it. Since melatonin has been shown to not work, those who took these might have had effects from the other compound.

Citation please.

Here's mine saying that as a general public sleep aid, it's probably not as effective as a prescription sleeping pill, but it is effective in regulating sleep due to deficiencies in melatonin production, and has efficacy in specific cases where melatonin regulation is an issue.

Such as in seniors and the elderly who see major drop-offs in melatonin production as we age. Without melatonin, I don't sleep very long, and need a nap in the afternoons. With it, I do sleep well, and can stay awake all day. I'm allergic to Ambien, so I'd know if there was that in the melatonin supplement I take.

So, you either need to re-think the phrase "Melatonin does not work" as an absolute or point out that not all things marketed as melatonin actually contain melatonin, which is part of the reason why there are major issues with counterfeit supplements.

Basically, you're drawing a conclusion without proper evidence. Just because melatonin supplements aren't very effective with the entire spectrum of the general public doesn't mean it's not effective at all for anyone.

"Dietary Supplement" printed on the bottle means that the FDA has no oversight on the product and requires no proof of efficacy. That mean EVERYTHING labeled as a Dietary Supplement can be worthless pills of rice powder. I'm always surprised that most people don't know this. Whether or not you get the active ingredient listed on the bottle is up to the goodness of the corporation that manufactured it, and we all know that corporations would never try to rip people off for profit. /sarcasm

I have friends that use large numbers of supplements. They are totally convinced they all work. A coup,e buy from some companies on the internet, because they claim that those “RAW’ products are better than the. Amp brands. Of course, neither do anything useful. But it’s very possible that the sites they buy from, at high prices (turmeric is a very popular item) are selling total crap, and they wouldn’t know.

I remember that a few years ago, Consumer reports, which has supplements tested buy a lab that does U.S.P testing. Reported that among other problems, one brand of melatonin had a substance similar to Ambian in it. Since melatonin has been shown to not work, those who took these might have had effects from the other compound.

As a jet lag remedy and sleep aid, melatonin has been widely studied, and it's now a commonly accepted part of effective jet lag treatment. The latest research seems to show that melatonin aids sleep during times when you wouldn't normally be resting, making it beneficial for people with jet lag.

Largely because of its regulatory effects on the circadian system, melatonin has proven to be highly effective for treating the range of symptoms that accompany transmeridian air travel. Additionally, it has been found to be of value in treating mood disorders like seasonal affective disorder.

"Dietary Supplement" printed on the bottle means that the FDA has no oversight on the product and requires no proof of efficacy. That mean EVERYTHING labeled as a Dietary Supplement can be worthless pills of rice powder. I'm always surprised that most people don't know this. Whether or not you get the active ingredient listed on the bottle is up to the goodness of the corporation that manufactured it, and we all know that corporations would never try to rip people off for profit. /sarcasm

IIRC you would still have recourse against vendors hawking worthless pills of rice powder, but you'd have to take it up with the Federal Trade Commission.

Nobody actually goes to the FTC, and if they did it would come to nothing. Dietary Supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry with lobbyists in Washington DC making sure their snake oil remains on the market. That's why all homeopathic "remedies" are marked as dietary supplements, they don't have to prove to do anything even if they say on they package they do.

Align (tm) is one of a very few supplements with pretty good evidence of efficacy. See Frech, Khannan, Marianan Frech et al. Just because 99.99 percent of supplements are a waste of money doesn't mean they all are. YMMV

99.99% fraud is a pretty good reason to reject the entire supplement industry.

By the time I received the nonchalant email from Amazon notifying me that they had sold me counterfeit Align probiotics I HAD BEEN INJESTING THE PRODUCT FOR OVER SIX WEEKS. During that time I had numerous tests and medical procedures which MAY have been necessitated by the counterfeit product. All I requested was copies of independent laboratory test results showing what was actually in the counterfeit capsules. I DON'T BELIEVE THEY HAVE DONE ANY TESTING. After numerous phone calls I finally received a reply indicating the problem with the product was only regarding distribution authorization. If true, why did they tell me to STOP USING THE PRODUCT IMMEDIATELY AND DESTROY IT?Amazon clearly has no quality control and has really dropped the ball on this one.